It was 20 years ago this week that Boro sealed the deal for Rockliffe.

Steve Gibson completed the purchase of a crumbling old stately home and lush grounds and set about transforming it into a state of the art training complex.

Anthony Vickers looks at how far the vision has been realised.

Boro believe if they can get a prospective player to Rockliffe then the deal is half-done. And if they can get their other half there too...

When a transfer target jets in to Teesside they sweep through the picture postcard village of Hurworth and down the impressive drive towards the Grade II listed hall at the heart of the hotel, spa and state-of-the-art training complex.

Before talks the Hurworth hierarchy like to walk their man across the car-park and around the purpose built, world class training facility, the appliance of science medical and conditioning suites, the indoor pitch and a host of facilities that scream of professionalism, ambition and investment. As working environments go it isn’t bad.

After that when it comes to the nitty-gritty they are pushing at an open door. Negative images of the area are well and truly trumped by the reality of Rockliffe.

It is all a far cry from the days when Boro were ridiculed across Europe when Fabrizio Ravanelli denounced a shambolic set-up.

“We did not even have a proper place to train and prepare for games,” recalled chairman Steve Gibson later, when the FIFA delegation arrived to inspect Boro’s World Cup host base credentials as part of England’s failed bid.

At the time of Ravanelli’s stinging criticism the club had signed a host of Galacticos and had a box-fresh stadium but the training system was a haphazard affair with a string of third party sites being used and some of them far from ideal.

The £7m signing from Juventus bemoaned the regime of getting changed at the Riverside and jumping on a coach to drive 20 miles to training at all the all weather pitch at Kirklevington Grange Prison or the shorter journey to Tollesby Road where the first job would be to check the pitch for dog dirt.

The site in 1996

The much-misquoted marksman described the situation as buying a new Ferrari and parking it in a garage with no roof.

And it wasn’t just the venues. Ravanelli also had a pop at the lack of medical facilities and would fly back to Italy for treatment on niggles and have intense individual training programmes faxed over too.

The sulky striker had helped give the media an impression of a club in coaching chaos - and to be fair, results and performances during his erratic season gave credence to that.

But it was a case of uneven development. While the club had pumped money into the team and the stadium, investment had been ear-marked for training facilities too but that lagged several years behind.

“What we were looking for was an exciting area where we could develop a world class training facility,” recalled Gibson. “What we did was find a place at Rockliffe with planning permission to develop what we wanted to develop.”

That was 20 years ago this week. The project took a lot of time and money to complete.

The site pictured in March 2000

Ayresome Park had been used to train in during the first season at the Riverside before the bulldozers moved in leaving Boro in limbo while Rockliffe was developed.

Even when work started on the new complex there was an air of chaos. It was a building site and a muddy quagmire in the winter.

The hub was a double decker Portakabin ensemble with the players getting changed downstairs and Bryan Robson and the coaches having offices on the top shelf..

Gradually the complex took shape. The cavernous three-quarters indoor pitch was finished first, then the main building, canteen, media suite and admin offices, the changing rooms then the medical suites and Academy buildings.

The £7m development was officially opened by then prime minister Tony Blair while the restoration work on the old hall continued.

Prime Miniister Tony Blair officially opened the HQ in 1999

And work to develop the training HQ is on-going. Specialist rehabilitation suites have been added. A new sandpit for post-injury muscle strengthening work was installed last season.

Now the swish building is at the heart of operations and is often visited by other clubs to take notes as they plan their own developments.

And the complex - training facilities and the hotel - is fast becoming a magnet for other sporting teams.

Brazil’s football stars were based there before the Olympic warm-up game at the Riverside against Team GB and New Zealand’s All Blacks made it their home for the Rugby World Cup games in the region.

A host of top teams have stayed at Rockliffe ahead of games too.

And it was part of the failed England World Cup bid, pencilled in to host a team in the group to be based at Newcastle and Sunderland.

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Meanwhile the golf club has attracted some prestigious events including the Senior Open. And the hotel has become one of the premier wedding and conference venues in the north, has high occupancy rates, a three AA rosette rated restaurant and a booming spa business.

The plan hatched over 20 years ago seems to be paying off.

And insists chairman Steve Gibson, Rockliffe can only be of benefit to the Boro in years to come.

“Everybody is impressed,” said Gibson, who believes the impressive complex helps sign players.

“So why don’t we bring a player along and say, this is our training ground, this is our golf course and why don’t you stay at the hotel? It has to have an influence.”